Trump's consumer watchdog pick draws criticism from…

A little-known Office of Management and Budget official is President Donald Trump's leading candidate to become permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

Kraninger is an associate from the Office of Management and Budget and has held staff positions with both the House and Senate appropriations committees.

In her statement, Walters said the agency had been "plagued by excessive spending, dysfunctional operations, and politicized agendas" in the past and that Kraninger would continue to implement the policies Mulvaney put in place.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) will not be in Congress next year, and he also has no plans to be the next Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The post is now held by interim director Mick Mulvaney, who also leads the Office of Management and Budget, where Kraninger is an associate director. She is a "wholly unqualified", said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress, an advocacy group.

Since then, Mulvaney has steered the bureau in a more industry-friendly direction.

The CFPB is one of the most politically divisive agencies in Washington, hailed as a regulatory crown jewel by Democrats while maligned by Republicans as a bastion of government overreach and waste. Board chair Ann Badour said, "Firing the current CAB members is another move indicating Acting Director Mick Mulvaney is only interested in obtaining views from his inner circle, and has no interest in hearing the perspectives of those who work with struggling American families".

The CFPB, a government watchdog agency charged with consumer protection in the financial sector, was created after the financial crisis with the passage of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. He has frozen data collection in the name of security, dropped enforcement cases, and directed staff to cut next year's budget.

One of the biggest challenges she would face is managing the agency's more than 1,600 employees, many of whom have grown increasingly anxious about keeping their jobs as Mulvaney has directed his advisers to find ways to significantly cut next year's budget.